I just don't see what good can come from chopping and changing. I'm all for bringing Gary Neville back into the side, but Carrick was excellent and must keep his place. Whether Lampard desrves his place in the team is, of course, questionable, but I would personally stick with him and if things aren't going well after an hour, bring Crouch on for Fat Frank. Come on England.

All these talks of formation especially in the area's of should England play 4-4-2 with crouch playing as the target man & allow Rooney to play in the whole since that will be his best position & whick would also give Gerrard & Lampard more oppurtunities. Or 4-5-1, should Carrick or Hargreaves play, should Lampard be sacrificed for this crucial encounter, my head hurts..

"The PFA does not represent players when they have broken the law and been convicted on non-football matters."- Gordon Taylor in 2009 following Marlon King's release after a prison sentence for sexual assault & ABH

I'm in the sitting room again for this one with the family, but that doesn't diminsh the excitement. I'm so up for this one. A little bit of Shakespeare to sum up the occasion:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Glad I no longer live in the UK as the kind of stuff below drives me crazy.

"Cry 'God for Harry, England and Saint George!'" King Henry V's rallying cry does not go over very well in modern, multicultural England. Even less acceptable is Saint George's flag, a red cross quartering a white background, which was carried prominently into battle by the Crusaders of 900 years ago in their attempts to recover the Holy Land from ... persons of a certain "faith tradition." The cross of Saint George was later taken up as the national flag of England, and is commonly flown on the saint's name day, April 23. Such grossly insensitive displays must of course be stamped out. That, at any rate, is the opinion of Ms. Anne Owers, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Anyway C'mon the Boys.

Last edited by Goughy; 01-07-2006 at 08:15 AM.

If I only just posted the above post, please wait 5 mins before replying as there will be edits